Just started Oblivion back up again after about a year-long hiatus to get some things accomplished IRL. I rolled a high elf mage and was trying to remember the order I used to do mages guild recommendations. I seem to remember maybe doing Bruma first and Leyawiin last but I'm not even sure of that any more. In what order do you all normally do those recommendation quests?

OK, well, do all the quests except Leyawiin and Anvil first.

The last two require you to do a bit of fighting and you may get caught out if you are not strong enough.

Merlin (my latest char) is a Breton Mage, pretty standard, he got into the Arcane Uni (AU) really early, about Lv2. From there, those quests are quite tough for a newbie, so once you get your foot in the door, do other quests like the Main Quest, maybe even Arena if you have the balls, or just regular old dungeon-diving.

As you should know, most of a Mage skill set levels real quick, like Mysticism, Alteration, Conjuration, Alchemy and Illusion. You can level those by standing around your house.
Destruction and Restoration, on the other hand require nothing but bloody combat to improve decently. Oblivion gates are good for that.

Check out two thread I started here: http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1112495-levelling-destruction-and-restoration/
And: http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1112755-anatomy-of-a-mage/

Hope that helps you!

Chorrol, Skingrad, Anvil, Bruma, Cheydinhal, Bravil, Leyawiin-- just about every time.

I go to Chorrol first to drop off the Amulet, then join the MG while I'm there and do that rec. Then, more often than not, I go to Skingrad next to start up Seeking Your Roots and do that one, then on to Anvil and do that one, then back to the IC and on to Bruma. Sometimes though, I take the high road from Chorrol to Bruma and do that one second, then swing down to do Skingrad and Anvil. In either event, it's then back to the IC, then on to Cheydinhal, then down to Bravil and Leyawiin last.

It really depends on your character and playstyle.

However, keep in mind that some quests require combat and some travel. Leyawin is by far the most combat intensive; it doesn't even feel like a mege's quest, really. The others that involve combat are Anvil, Skingrad and Chorrol, the latter almost certainly will unless you simply buy some invisibility potions to avoid encounters you'll have on the way up to Cloud Top. Skingrad you may avoid combat if you can lead the zombies to Erthor and he can kill them (on max difficulty this is unlikely, though, and perhaps unlikely on other higher difficulty settings).

Another point is that you need the Dispel Other spell for one method of completing the Bruma quest, but you have to get the spell from Leyawin. I normally do this method for Bruma's quest completion, so I normally go to Leyawin and get that quest started plus get the spell (and other stuff) and then do Bruma afterwards. I usually finish Leyawin last, or nearly last.

I usually do Chorrol first, or Skingrad, depending on the type of magic use I am focused on for a character.

Bravil requires travel back and forth between Bravil and the IC, so if you do not use fast travel, you will have a lot of encounters for that quest, too.

Another factor is the free spells you receive. These are from Bruma, Bravil, Cheydinal and Skingrad. If your playstyle choices for a character need those spells, you probably want put those quests as a priority (although not necessarily all of them, depending on what spells you want/need the most).

In order from first to last: Bruma, Chydinhal, Bravil, Chorrol, Anvil, Skingrad, Leyawin.

As far as I can remember I always did them alphabetically.

I usually do them in a similar order:

First Cheydinhal (where I usually join), Bruma, Bravil, Chorrol, Skingrad, Anvil, last Leyawiin

I use the OOO mod which makes the Leyawiin quest particularly difficult for lower levels, and even at higher levels (unless you just use stealth for most of it)

So the order is roughly easiest to hardest, with a east to west theme. I might mix a few up, and don't go out of my way for that exact order.

*SPOILER ALERT*

The first thing I do after unloading in the Imperial City is go to Chorrol, deliver the amulet, and join both the mage and fighters' guilds. I usually buy a few spells in Chorrol (like a scamp pet, command spells and turn undead), selling enough weapons and glassware to get the cash. Then I head down to Skingrad and get that quest because it gives you Weak Fireball, and a load of glassware to tote off to Anvil to sell, and a welkynd stone.

I like to finish these quests before gaining a level so I actually do the Anvil quest first - you have to sleep for that one so you'll level if you're eligible. Also it's easy - all you have to do is avoid getting hit while your helpers take the baddie down. Anvil also lets you start the KOTN quest line if you plan to do that.

Leyawiin comes next. You can pick up steel armor and a silver longsword from the fighters guild there if you want them. Then the non-fighting quests at Bravil, Cheydinal and Bruma, where I also pick up a glowdust for Azura's quest. Next I finish off Skingrad. If you're melee there's a useful weapons stone outside Bleak Cave that really helps with this one. Turn undead is great if you're a caster or archer. Last is the Chorrol run to Cloudtop to retrieve the book and get the spell, if I don't have destruction as a major. Spell is only good for getting the shock effect cheap.

Now I head back to Imperial City and am virtually always ready for a level up. So I train Armorer at Fighting Chance (this will apply to lvl 2 raises) then catch a nap at the arena. After that it's off to the Arcane U to make myself an Amulet of Nighteye (yay!), using my treasured filled petty soul gem from the shammie in the tutorial, and any custom spells my character wants.

Mara

I always do it in this order:

Anvil, Skingrad, Chorrol, Bruma, Cheydinhal, Bravil and Leyawin.

Buffy joined in her home town of Bravil so she did that one first. No one told her some were harder than others, so she just studied her map and this is the order she used after Bravil:

Leyawiin - visited the nearby Serpent Stone and picked up Cobra's Dance - very, very helpful.
Cheydinhal - WooHoo, bought a beautiful black mare! :twirl:
Bruma - silly boys.
Chorrol - nasty witch.
Skingrad - learned to love Tamika's wine. It's grown right there, you know! :liplick:
Kvatch - the poor guild was gone
Anvil - almost got her but kicked trying to be undercover in disguise. :blush:

For me, it depends a lot on the character. Usually if he'd join the Mages Guild, he'd also at least deliver the Amulet, so Chorrol ends up being first. From there, it depends on whether or not he heads for Kvatch, and once he joins the Guild, he just goes to the next closest town on the map.

For the most part I do them in counter-clockwise order on the map starting at Cheydinhal. Either that or from north to south on the map. Cheydinhal, Chorrol, and Bruma are always the first 3 I finish and then move on to Skingrad, Anvil, Bravil, and finally Leyawiin.

Depends on character, but quite a few of them need followers to help them, so Skingrad is often the last, just because Erthor has been helping with the others. He's usually killed Kalthar for me just before I drop him back to Skingrad.

If my character doesn't have high enough Alteration (or strength) to start with, then the Cheydinhal one waits until the spell is usable, or not needed. Anvil, Bravil or Chorrol can be done without any special skill levels, so any of those could be my first, depending on the character. It's usually a question of what order I want to buy spells to build the character, I just do the recommendation quest at the same time. Bruma is somewhere in the middle for any character. I'm building up one skill or another to use on that quest before I do it.

Bravil, Leyawin, Cheydinhal, Bruma, Chorral, Skingrad, Anvil

Thanks for all the responses. I think I have a pretty good plan for the guild recommendations now.

for me the order doesn't really matter, as long as I do Bruma before Cheydinhal I'm happy. (The unlock spell you learn in Bruma is handy for the Cheydinhal quest)

I always start with Anvil and end in Bravil.

In Anvil I join both guilds and cart off everything with any value that is not nailed down. Anything I know I will need for a later quest I save, as well as any ingredients, and sell the rest off to Norbert Lelles in order to both raise some cash and bump up my Mercantile skill. Between that and use of Speechcraft I can get his disposition fairly high, which pays off later since I can then get significantly better returns on much more valuable items once I start general looting. I also take but do not yet start the MG recommendation quest, I leave that until I get some combat items since the two Battlemages sometimes do not show up when they're supposed to.

I repeat the selling and Speechcraft routine in each city after looting the guild halls so that I have at least one merchant per city to whom I can sell valuable loot at good prices (Gundalas in Leyawiin takes a bit more work to get to that point due to his high Mercantile skill). In addition, in Skingrad I chat with Sinderion about Nirnroot and start the related quest since I usually have the first 10 already and might as well drop them off.

In Chorrol I make sure to not speak to Dar-Ma until after I sell the stuff from the guilds, since otherwise speaking to Seed-Neeus may start the Hackdirt quest and I want to save that for later (I know, I could let it sit, but I hate having a ton of undone quests in my journal). I may or may not train up Armorer while I am there, depends on the character. I also hand in the amulet and let the MQ sit indefinitely.

In Bruma I always pull the prank, since that gets me a free Unlock spell which comes in handy for a few levels until I can get the Skeleton Key and also allows me to make one for V. Hard locks later if I so choose.

Since my characters are always Argonians I complete the Cheydinhal one on the spot, and also talk to the Dunmer lady who reveals Azura's Shrine and enables the topic for some other people.

The Leyawiin one can be difficult early on, although doing it early means the tomb guardians will be weak (the two critters in the back room, not the marauders in the rest of the place), so sometimes I let it wait for a few levels and other times I go ahead and run it immediately. I take all the loot back and sell it in either case, more Mercantile points and another happy merchant for later sales.

By this point I have over ten thousand in cash on hand, so the Bravil quest is relatively easy as I can buy the staff from the guy in IC instead of trying to swipe it. I can also bribe both him and Varon Vamori if my Speechcraft is not yet high enough to push their respective dispositions above the proper thresholds.

At the AU I start the main MG questline and may make a custom spell or item or two as well depending on my current magic skill levels. I then often spend the rest (or most of the rest, as the case may be) of my still-hefty (for that early, at any rate) bankroll on the Apotheosis staff and one or two more specialty items for my starting kit.

i often do it random, if i got a quest to go to a town i often do the recommendation to

Cheydinhal, Bravil, Leyawiin, Skingrad, Anvil, Chorrol, then Bruma.

I always do Lewyawiin first for RP reasons, the head of the guild talks about your future and such.......then go in a clockwise manner like a pilgrimage to each guild from bravil, skingrad, anvil, chorrol, bruma, and then Cheydinhal because i feel the pace quickens into the questline and matches approprietly with Falcar running off with his necro buddies and shows you getting deeper into things.